Students Make The Most Of “Mockingbird” Mock Trial

by Lisa Reisman

The defense rested. Brandese Wooten-Harvin, 15, approached the podium. “May it please the court,” she began.

“The defendants turned a harmless man into a terrifying monster just because he’s different, quiet, and living with a disability that this town never tried to understand,” she said to the hushed courtroom last Friday.

This was the Circuit Court of Maycomb County, Alabama, otherwise known as Alumni Lounge at University of New Haven’s Bartels Hall. Wooten-Harvin was representing plaintiff Arthur “Boo” Radley Jr. of To Kill a Mockingbird fame in a civil action alleging defamation of character by town gossip Stephanie Crawford and the county itself. At stake were millions of dollars in damages.

Following “In the Matter of Hip Hop” in August, this was the second community mock trial for the nine scholars of Re-CEE Academy, which is short for “reconsidering your roles and rights in the system.” The scholars and coaches spent eight weeks this past summer in a free program designed to have the participants literally re-seeing themselves and what they can do.

Yale Law Professor Elizabeth Hinton arranged for space in a suite at Yale’s Strathcona Hall where, among other activities, participants sharpened their listening skills with an ethnomusicologist, polished their oratory with the help of two Connecticut public defenders, and, in general, developed the tools they need to command a room and to advocate for themselves and others. The program has continued this fall, with meetings at Yale on Saturday mornings. 

At Fresh Starts trunk or treat event at Life Haven shelter for women, Re-CEE Academy members Lionel McFadden Jr. and Brelyn Wooten-Harvin with coaches Marcus Harvin and Rickey Howard. Photo courtesy of Marcus Harvin

“This is about placing these young people in positions to succeed,” said Marcus Harvin, head of the nonprofit Newhallville Fresh Starts and a second-year student at Western New England School of Law; a half-dozen of his classmates have continued to serve as coaches in the program. “The world gives these young people negative reinforcements every day. We are here to change that.

“People who their whole lives got driven past Yale University this summer got driven to Yale University,” he told the 50 courtroom spectators. “And they’re not even old enough to get in. But I promise you, when they do get to be that age, Yale would be fortunate to have them.”  

To that end — and to prepare for mock trial season beginning on Dec. 8, when Re-CEE Academy debuts as the first-ever community mock trial team in state history — Harvin and his law-school coaches pulled out all the stops, designing letter jackets for the scholars, and transforming the alumni lounge into a court of law.

There was the judge, who in real life is the Hon. Shari A. Murphy, a judge for the New London Judicial District Superior Court. The 12 jurors were from The University School in Bridgeport. According to Harvin, who recruited them, they will join the New Haven scholars at the Academy on Saturday mornings with transportation funded by the Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs. 

Plaintiff’s attorney Telihl Streater questioning Jim Finch (second-year law student Blake Vrechek) with jurors from the University School in Bridgeport looking on. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo

There were colorful witnesses like defendant Stephanie Crawford (Samantha Chung) declaring her solemn duty as a citizen to spread word of Radley Jr.’s alleged stabbing of his father, as well as his propensity to creep through town at night, peering into bedroom windows, and to poison livestock and pets. 

There was the plaintiff Boo Radley (second-year law student Harrison Rubin). Having admitted on cross-examination by defense attorney Lionel McFadden Jr., 14, that he had stabbed his father, he told the court on re-cross thathe was neurodivergent. Once he mistakenly drunk his father’s Scotch-spiked egg nog, he said, blaring Christmas music and flashing lights caused him to “spaz” and reflexively gash his father in the leg with scissors. He denied the peeping-tom and livestock-poisoning allegations. 

Atticus Finch (Marcus Harvin) told plaintiff’s attorney Telihl Streater, 15, that Radley Jr. was “a gentle soul, a misunderstood man, and a bit of a hero in my life,” he said, referring to the night he saved the lives of his children.

After Streater elicited an admission from Arthur Radley Sr. (second-year law student Wes Chung) that his son’s disability could have contributed to the stabbing — “dagger,” someone in the courtroom murmured — came Wooten-Harvin’s closing argument.

“Members of the jury,” she began. “Arthur Radley Jr. has been trapped in the dark for years because people in Maycomb chose to spread rumors of him instead of learning the truth,” she went on. “Instead of showing empathy, people treated Arthur like his condition was something to be afraid of. 

“In Maycomb, in the whole of America, everyone deserves fairness, respect, and basic human dignity, no matter their physical or mental challenges. A good neighbor would have offered a shoulder to lean on instead of a cold shoulder.” 

In the moments after the jury returned a verdict in Radley Jr.’s favor, and an award of $2 million, Wooten-Harvin celebrated with her co-counsel.  There had been two-and-a-half weeks of intense preparation. “It was worth it,” Wooten-Harvin said.  

Re-CEE Academy scholars Brandese Wooten-Harvin, Adriana Taylor, Brelyn Wooten-Harvin, Telihl Streater, and Lionel McFadden Jr. with coaches Marcus Harvin, Rickey Howard, and Wes Chung, and (holding certificate) advisor Song Kim of the CT Bar Association. Credit: Lisa Reisman photo